Something Precious To Me
by Night Rain Illusion
Summary: I frowned, confused by the question. Since when did I consider Sasuke precious to me? Friendship NarutoSasuke, slight NarutoHaku flirting. Possible twoshot.


Just an idea I had (I'm sending out a lot of oneshots and ideas, aren't I?). When I had first watched episode 12 of Naruto "Battle on the Bridge: Zabuza Returns!", the brief conversation between Haku and Naruto had me thinking. When he(Naruto) says, "...there's this kid/someone that I have to prove something to.", I at first thought that he meant Inari (which he does), that kid who doesn't believe in heroes. But after watching it again (and having Sasuke show up minutes after the conversation took place) I started thinking that he was talking about Sasuke (it's a possibility). So basically, here is that conversation, only in Naruto's point of view. Slight Naruto/Haku in the beginning, but it's really meant to be Naruto/Sasuke. I hope I got Naruto's personality right in this...

For those curious, the conversation is a combination of the English version and the translated Japanese version. I just put whatever made sense.

I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke wouldn't have went off to Orochimaru. Heck, I would be smacking him around with a wet noodle just for thinking about going to Orochimaru...

**Something Precious To Me**

The sunlight was poking through my eyelids as the annoying chatter of birds rang in my ears. I made no move to knock the birds away from me. I was too exhausted from all the training I did last night. Who knew that climbing trees would be this hard? I ended up just sleeping in the forest, I was barely able to move as it was anyway yesterday.

_Just give me five more minutes or something..._

I suddenly felt someone next to me. With my luck, it was probably Sasuke. If my eyes were open, I would be rolling them. I could almost imagine him standing over me, shaking his head in disapproval and commenting on how big of a loser I am. So I decided to ignore it. To hell with Sasuke, I'll lay here as long as I damn well please. But then I felt someone shaking me slightly.

"You'll catch cold sleeping in a place like this. Wake up."

That was definitely not Sasuke, in fact, this voice was unrecognizable, and yet, I felt like I could remember it from somewhere. And slightly feminine, but I couldn't be sure. I opened my eyes, groaning slightly as my vision started to focus. As soon as it did, I was looking up into a person's face. It appeared to be a girl with long black hair and slightly dark brown eyes, wearing a bright pink kimono with black swirl designs. I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, as if unsure if she was really there.

"Who the heck are you?", I asked, although it sounded slightly ruder than I meant for it to be.

She smiled slightly, tilting her head to one side. Now that I had a better look at her, I could feel a dull blush rise up into my cheeks. She was very pretty, hell, she was prettier than Sakura! With a nervous laugh, I put a hand up to my face, as if covering the blush, trying to look as subtle as possible.

"Oh...uh...I mean...Hi there, where did you come from? I mean, what are you doing out here and all that?", I stuttered. Damn her for being hot and getting me all tongue-tied!

"I'm gathering herbs.", she replied.

"Herbs?"

"Yes, that's right. They're for treating illnesses and healing wounds.", she answered. I wasn't sure, but I had the distinct feeling that I was still blushing.

"Uh well, would you like me to help you with that?", I offered.

"That sounds fine."

I stood up and stretched before following her over to where her basket was. I could see a few plants that seemed like the herb things that she was looking for. I knelt down as I picked one. "Like this?", I asked as I held it out to her.

"Yes, just like that.", she said as she reached over, taking it from my hand. I think my face turned even redder as her hand brushed against mine, but she didn't seem the least bit fazed as she dropped the herb into her basket. We picked a few more herbs before I had decided to sit down.

"You start work early, huh Sis?", I asked conversationally, hoping to know more about her. I'm pretty sure that girls like guys who ask girls about themselves.

"I like it early. It's calm...but I didn't think I'd find anyone out here sleeping in the woods.", she added. I couldn't help but grin.

"I'm training.", I boasted. Her eyes widened.

"So are you a ninja? Because I noticed that headband of yours...or are you just making a fashion statement?", she asked. I pouted at this. A fashion statement? I'm a ninja! I worked hard to get this headband! Why would I go around wearing one if I wasn't a ninja? But it did kind of make me blush more. Maybe she was impressed by ninjas.

"Oh, you noticed that? All right! Only super cool ninja can wear these!", I said, jabbing a thumb upward at my headband. Yeah, that's right. I'm a ninja. See how she likes that.

"Oh really?", she asked, sounding skeptical, "I see, that's very impressive."

I couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it was a positive reaction none the less. But then she looked away.

"But...does that mean that you're training for something dangerous?"

She sure asked a lot of questions, but I put that aside. Of course I was training for something dangerous, for the next time we had to fight that Zabuza guy. I do have to get stronger, otherwise we might not get off so easily next time. He would definitely be more challenging next time, and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't a little scared. But hey, I'm Naruto Uzamaki! Believe it! I don't show fear. Plus, I should probably not tell her that I have to get ready to fight a scary ninja. I don't want her to get worried about me. (Although that would probably boost my ego if she was worried about me)

So with a huge smile, mostly to cover up the real reason, I said, "I'm just developing my skills so that I can get stronger." Just with a slight hint of modesty. Modesty is what attracts girls the most...I think.

"You seem very strong now, isn't that enough?"

I frowned. Again, it wasn't exactly the answer that I was looking for. Boy, she was a strange girl. I shook my head. "No, no, I need to get stronger and stronger, I have to keep practicing!"

But why did I need to keep practicing? Right, to beat that ninja next time. And of course my dream to be Hokage. But mostly to show up Sasuke. I grimaced. Why the hell was I suddenly thinking about him? Trying to keep my mind off the Uchiha, I looked back to the girl, waiting to see what she would say.

Her eyes seemed to narrow. "How so? Why is it so important?"

I pumped my fist up. "So that I can become the best ninja in my village! Then everyone will know who I am and they'll all respect me!"

I wasn't sure if I really wanted her to know that back in my village, I was about as likable as the dirt I walked on. Everyone always spoke things about me behind my back and I didn't have very many friends. What the hell did I do to make everyone hate me so much? That question has probably haunted my dreams every night when I was a little kid. But now it's not so bad. I've got Iruka, Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke...wait, what the hell, me and Sasuke aren't friends! Now thinking about him, I couldn't help but think of one of my other goals.

"And right now, I also need to prove something to someone!" Yeah...I have to prove to him that I'm not a loser!

She seemed to take interest in this. "So are you doing it all for this certain person?"

I guess so. I do push myself harder when I train just so that I can one-up Sasuke. Just to prove that I am better than him.

"...or are you doing this for yourself?"

I am trying to get respect and become the greatest Hokage ever. Gah, I'm so confused now. Which one am I doing the training for? Hokage or Sasuke? I decided to answer with a blank stare, seeing as how I didn't really understand too well at what she was getting at. "Huh?"

She put a hand up to her mouth, as if to suppress a laugh. I scowled. How dare she be laughing at me!

"What are you laughing about?! What's so funny?"

"Is there...someone that's precious to you?"

Someone...precious to me? Why ask me something like that?

"Someone who...what are you saying Sis, what do you mean precious?", I asked. She didn't answer, her eyes looked distant, as if she was seeing something far away, something that I couldn't see. It gave me a moment to think about her question. Someone precious to me...someone I care about I suppose...well, I care about Iruka-sensei, seeing as how he was kind of like my inspiration to becoming a ninja and he was the first person to care about me. Kakashi-sensei is my new teacher, and I guess I do care about him too...I care about Sakura, but she's too busy swooning over Sasuke to care about me. Sasuke...

Since when did Sasuke become a member of that list? He's supposed to be my rival, nothing more. I could care less about him! Hell, all he ever does is stand around calling me a loser, acting cool and all and getting Sakura to scream "Sasuke, Sasuke!" all the time. He's not precious to me. I mean, I guess I would care if he died, but I don't think that I'll be crying over him. I suddenly had a strange feeling creep in, one that I couldn't identify. Shame? Maybe, I guess I would be upset if Sasuke died. He does motivate me to become stronger. If he died, then my motivation dies too.

Maybe it was guilt. I would probably hate myself for not being upset if Sasuke died. Heck, what if I was there when Sasuke died? What if it had been my fault that he died? That would have probably messed me up. Maybe he is precious to me, in a sense when it comes to being teammates...

I looked back up at her. _What is she thinking?_

Was she thinking about someone precious to her? Hopefully it wasn't a boyfriend or anything like that...

"When a person has someone precious that they want to protect, then they become genuinely strong.", she spoke suddenly. That seemed to confuse me more. Did I want to protect Sasuke? He can take care of himself, he doesn't need me to be protecting him. Maybe as a teammate, but nothing more than that...

But it made me think. Was there anyone who considered me precious? Someone who wanted to protect me? My thoughts at first turned to Inari, that one kid whose father died. He had someone to protect him, to protect their village. Kakashi's words seemed to come back to me, back from when we fought Zabuza.

_"I'll protect you with my life. All of you."_

Then there was Iruka, someone who had taken a giant shuriken to the back for me. How I felt when that Mizuki was about to kill Iruka.

_"If you ever lay a hand on my sensai, I'll kill you!"_

But when have I ever heard anything or said anything like that involved Sasuke? No, all he did was insult me. He could take a question of concern and turn it into an insult.

_"Your not hurt are you...scaredy cat?"_

But then again, maybe if you peeled the insult out, you could see the concern in it. Did Sasuke actually care and was just covering it up as to not make it look that way. I smiled.

"I hear you there, I know exactly what your saying.", I agreed with her, since she was still waiting on an answer. She smiled before slowly standing up, picking up the basket of herbs she had.

Without looking at me, she said, "You will get strong, very strong. Goodbye. We'll meet again sometime."

I grinned as she walked away. It was kind of sad that I would probably never see her again, she was so smart, pretty, kind...

"Oh, by the way, I'm a boy."

nice, trusting, and...hey, wait a minute, did she just say that she is a boy? I felt my jaw drop as I put my hands to my head, feeling a massive headache coming on. How can that be right? I was practically hitting on her...him. _Gah, he's prettier than Sakura! That's just messed up!_

God, I hope I never see him again. I crossed my arms, musing aloud. He may have been nice, but sheesh, you should be telling someone ahead of time that you're a guy! Especially when he's dressed like that! I mean, even Sasuke doesn't...

I suddenly felt something hit me in the head, a punch. I held my hands up to the spot, looking up and seeing Sasuke. Huh, speak of the devil. Of course, I said something else.

"Hey, what the hell!?", I shouted at him. Why did he have to go and hit me like that? Something wrong with just sitting here and thinking to myself? Especially if it's about him?

"Did you forget about breakfast? What a loser.", he replied for an answer. I removed my hands from my head. He came all this way out here to get me to come to breakfast? I couldn't help but grin. Like I said before, if you peeled away the insult, you could find something nice underneath it. That one boy's words came back to me. Someone that I cared about, someone precious. I hate to admit it, but I think that Sasuke might be one of those people. Of course, I'm never going to tell him that or be expected to admit that out loud. Day that happens is the day that Kakashi shows us what's under that mask of his. (I mean really, what the hell is he hiding anyway? Sigh. Another question for another day). Sasuke scowled at me, crossing his arms.

"What are you grinning about?", he spat. It made me grin wider.

Nothing Sasuke. Nothing at all...


End file.
